1. Welcome Students!

2. Impact Craters!
moon

3. What is a Crater? Left: Craters on the moon
Right: Smiley Face Crater on Mars

4. Crater: is bowl-shaped hole that is formed when an object hits the surface of a planet
Crater on Earth

5. Some craters on Earth are created by volcanoes
Volcanic crater in Hawaii

6. What Causes Impact Craters?

7. Meteorites!
Meteorite: is an object from space that hits the surface of a planet
usually rock or metal
Different types of meteorites found on Earth

8. Have you ever seen a shooting star?
While still in the air, shooting stars are called meteors

9. Why are craters different sizes?
Craters on the moon

10. The size of the crater depends on:
the size of the meteor
the speed of the meteor
Which ones will make larger craters?
Smaller craters?
Larger craters
Meteorites found on Earth
Smaller craters

11. What makes some go faster?
Gravity!
Simplified: gravity makes larger meteorites go faster, so they hit harder
More: The equation for the force of gravity is F=m*a
Where F=force of gravity on an object
M=mass of object
a= acceleration due to gravity
Therefore, an object with a larger mass will have a greater force applied too it by gravity causing its velocity to increase more rapidly. This increases its kinetic energy (KE= .5*m*v^2), so that when it hits it releases more energy than a smaller object would upon impact.

12. What are the parts of a crater?
Wall
Diameter
Floor
Raised Rim

13. Impact Craters on Earth
Upper Left: Spider Crater in Australia, diameter: 13 km, age: more than 570 Million years
Upper Right: Barringer Crater in Arizona, diameter: 1.2 km, Age: 49,000 Years
Lower Left: Lonar Crater in India, Diameter: 1.8 km, Age: 52,000 years
Lower Right: Tswaing Crater in South Africa, Diameter: 1.1 km, Age: 200,000 years

14. Why does the Earth look so different from the moon?
The Earth has an atmosphere
Meteorites burn up before they hit
Erosion from wind and rain

15. No atmosphere means craters don’t go away

16. The Activity Measure height of the ball above the flour pan Height

17. Gently drop, don’t throw, the ball into the pan
Flour Pan

18. Carefully take the ball out of the pan
Measure the diameter of the crater left by the ball
Diameter

19. Diameter of Crater in Centimeters
8.5 8
7.5 7
6.5 6
5.5 5
4.5 4
Diameter in
Centimeters
Drop 1
Drop 2
Drop 3
Drop 4
Drop 5
Record your results
Drop again from a different height
Graph your results

20. A hypothesis is a guess of what will happen in an experiment
Write a Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a guess of what will happen in an experiment

21. Drop

22. How do we know what the Moon is made of?
Probes/Astronauts
Spectroscopy
Core Samples

23. First draw a picture of your sample and record observations
Core Sample Activity
First draw a picture of your sample and record observations

24. Next take your core sample by gently pressing your straw through your sample

25. Now squeeze out your core sample, draw a picture of it, and write down what you observe

26. Cut open your sample to observe the layers

27. Compare your sample to the knowns and determine what type of sample it is

28. Did you Know? Astronauts took core samples of the moon!
This is a picture of Buzz Aldrin taking a core sample of the Moon during the Apollo 11 Mission